Slang:IITB STYLE

Almost all residential institutes/colleges have a distinct culture
of their own, and an inseparable part of that culture is the slang, or
"slanguage" used by the denizens.

IIT Bombay has a slang all it's own, with a distinct Bombay flavour
.

Here is a list ( albeit not an exhaustive one )of the slanguage of IITB,
minus the unprintables which are a staple part of almost every sentence
spoken here.

Please sign the Guestbook (constructive criticism welcome) at the end
of this page)..Thanks

app : To app is to quit Des for greener pastures (!) to the
west of the atlantic. Every iitian worth his CPI or otherwise can
app. Apping is a long drawn process beginning the summer of the
penultimate year of your stay on campus (note it's not the third year
always; as some of you might extrapolate) and culminating in maybe a schol towards the end of your final year. The
steps involved are beyond the scope of this compilation and merits a page
on its own.

arbit: An abbreviation of "arbitrary", it is a very flexible word.
Basically, it is used to describe something/someone that is weird/strange/not
the way it should be. eg. "That guy does arbit things" or "He's an arbit guy"
implies that the person being referred to is a bit on the strange side.

avoid: Besides it's dictionary meaning, this word is also
used in an admonitory tone, with people shouting it whenever they get
irritated. eg. If someone is watching TV and someone else turns up the
radio, then the standard reply is "Avoid, boss!!". If that fails to work,
then "*@#$%^" are always there. However, due to extreme overuse these
words have lost their cutting edge and are no longer taken seriously.

"...aax": The "..aax" extension is a typical IITBism, used in
any context whatsoever, from peaceaax to scopeax to nabdaax..( "nabard"
will be explained later ). It has no independent existence of it's own,
however, always having to be bonded to another word.

boss: A word used (1) while talking to someone who's name one
doesn't know or (2) while talking to someone who's name one does know. In
that context, however, it is of no particular significance, a bit like the
human appendix without it's attendant problems.

breaker: Slang for "breakfast", the most important meal of the
day, beacuse it was the only one that was even remotely edible. The
quality of the tea varied, however, from good to detergent-flavoured.

bumps: A treat given to someone on his Birthday, when the
concerned person is lifted in the air and his rear end is subjected to
a series of kicks. Bumps are also a standard punishment for anyone who
pains people too much with bad jokes/comments.

chinco/chinks: The Chinese joint (located outside H-8 when I
joined IIT, and then moved to the NCC building ), where all the
DNots andLukkhas ( these terms to be explained later ) used to
hang out at night. Famous for serving the exact same preparation under
atleast 5-6 different names.

con: Same meaning as dictionary version..

chamkaa: The literal meaning of this word is "lit up" or
"glowed", but in the IITian context, it is used to indicate an
understanding of something that has been just explained/said/described to
you. This use probably arose from the popular cartoon image of a bulb
lighting up in a person's head when he/she got an idea.

cts: An abbreviation of

clearing tensions: which is what one has when one is close to
flunking a course.

crapping tensions: We all know what that means.

cack: A short version of the word "cacophony", it signifies the
act of verbal communication, viz. talking. To cack is to talk ( academic
discussions do not qualify ). A group of people talking is having a "cack
session".

Convo: The Convocation Hall, where degrees were awarded, and
more importantly, where the weekly movie was shown.

crack: This word, whatever it's sinister connotations in the
"real world", has a very positive meaning in IITB. Use of this term by an
IITian implies that the person is referring to somebody's ( perhaps his
own ) excellent performance/stroke of good fortune. eg. "I cracked the
exam"..or "I cracked a schol"..or in true IITB style, "crack maar diyaa",
or "crack scene hai boss..."

crash: This word is quite well known outside IITB too..and it
denotes the blissful state of slumber in which most IITians are to be
found for the better part of the day.

crib: To crib is to raise objection(s) to something. In IIT
cribbing is carried to great lengths by certain people, who are given the
title of "cribboos" in recognition of their achievements in this field.

dayaa: A Hindi word meaning "pity", it is used in a
similar sense, when people beg someone to stop what he is doing by
telling him "Dayaa boss ( have pity on us )". It's also used as an
adjective ( for describing something/someone that is avoidable ) e.g.
"That's a dayaa Prof".

despo: A corruption of the word "desperate", eg. that guy
is despo for a schol. Also used as a nickname for people having the
family name "Deshpande".

dhuk: An abbreviated version of "dhakkan", which is Hindi for
"cap" or "lid", it denotes a stupid person. To do "dhakkangiri" is to do
something stupid.

Diro: The Director of the Institute.. the BIG BOSS

ditch: To abandon something. Usage: "Ditch maar boss.."

dnot: ( An abbreviation of "Dhandha-not" ) A dnot is someone
who has absolutely nothing to do in life or has absolutely no enthusiasm
for doing what he is supposed to be doing. The act of being a dnot is
known as "dnotgiri".

DOSA: Dean of Student Affairs.. the guy who's supposed to be on
the side of the students.. hmmmphh..

DryD:An acronym for "Dry Dinner", it was the day of the week
when mildly tolerable food was likely to be served.

fart: This word has many subtle and interesting connotations,
depending on the context in which it is being used. In IIT lingo, to fart
means to say something patently untrue/wildly exaggerated/impossible. So
when someone is farting he is essentially bullshitting big-time. Such
people are known as "fartoos". Another usage of this word is: anything
that is bad..ie. a fart Prof. ( Professor ), fart grub ( food ), fart
movie/song, you name it.. anything which is not fundoo is fart.

fight: To "fight" over something means giving it your best
shot. It's also used for encouraging people when they are under stress
and have to do something very challenging and do it in a very short time.

freakout: To freak out is to enjoy oneself and have a really
good time. A person who is fun to be with is also known as a freakout
character. IITians also use this word when they are happy ( for any
reason ).

freshie: Freshmen are known by this term, and shiver with
terror whenever they hear it ( during their first 1-2 months in IIT),
because it means that somewhere in the neighbourhood, a freshie is being
summoned by his seniors for an "introduction". This is the phenomenon of
ragging, which is defined in the latter half of this document. An IITian
stays a freshie for his first year, after which a new batch comes to be
victimized.

Freshies' Night: A ritual signifying the end of the ragging
period, it consisted of certain, shall we say "trans-gender" performances
by the freshies.

Freshies' Social: The "cultural" high point of the Freshie
Calendar, it was an Inter-Hostel talent show, where the freshies displayed
their musical and choreographic talents, accompanied by a liberal dose of
double entendre.

funda/fundaes: These words are just abbreviations of the
word
"fundamental(s)". The funda of something means the basic principle behind
it. Fundaes are just a collection of several "fundas" and the person with
the best fundaes is called the "funda man".

fundoo: Anything which is good/enjoyable is "fundoo". You can
have a fundoo meal, watch a fundoo movie, meet a fundoo girl ( not very
likely inside the IIT campus, and almost equally improbable outside it,
due to the "not very hep" reputation of IITians ). In short, it's one of
those multipurpose words which creeps into almost every sentence of the
average IITian.

Gaddha: This is a Hindi word which means "hole" or "ditch".
IITB is located on a hill, and the nearest movie theater and suburban
railway station are located at the bottom of that hill. As a result, that
place is referred to as the "gaddha". However, it is more specifically
used to refer to any one of the two extremely seedy and disreputable movie
theaters in that area, which would be jam packed with IITians after the
last day of exams/submissions and on Friday nights ( by those unfortunate
ones not having any other place in Bombay to go to ). Any movie, no matter
how fart it was, would draw a decent crowd on the night after the last
exam got over.

ghoch: A foul-up of any kind is called a ghoch. It can also
mean a defect or flaw of some sort. e.g. A ghoch in someone's reasoning.
People who perform detructive acts ( keeda...explained later ) also "do
ghoch".

ghodagiri: Ironically, this word means "donkey work ", whereas
"ghoda" means "horse" in Hindi. Ghodagiri refers to any kind of work
that's very menial and/or involves very little brainwork ( just pure
effort ). Those who do this thankless work are referred to as "ghodas".

..giri: Used as a suffix to several slangs in IIT, it denotes
the act of being like the person/thing/characteristic described by the
slang. eg. ghodagiri (previous entry), dnotgiri etc.

give up: Give up can mean what it is supposed to, or

It can have the same meaning as "fart" in the
sense of something that's bad/avoidable. eg. "That's a give up movie".

It's also used as an expression of defeat, when one realizes that one
is facing impossible odds.

grub: Food, of which there was always a great shortage ( the
edible variety that is ). Mess grub was there in plenty, though. The
horror stories about it are legion, with each hostel having an anthology
of it's own.

hadaaaaaaa....: An exclamatory remark which is characteristic of
H-9 ites, it's closest English equivalent is the phrase "No Way!!". A
H-9ite usually say "hadaa" when the person(s) he is talking to is
(1)farting away to glory and/or (2) he generally wants to put him down,
which is something for which H-9ites are notorious. Nothing beats the
distinct disbelief and contempt expressed by a loud "hadaaaaa", where the
last "aaaa..." can be as long as one wants it to be.

frequency: A euphemism for the number of times in one day that
an ITian engages in auto-erotic activities.

hagar/hagaar: Another word for huggoo (described later ).

Hawa: Hindi word meaning "Air", it is something which every
freshie is supposed to know, "hawa" being an acronym for AIR ( his All
India Rank in the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) ).

hawas: A Hindi word meaning "lust", it's used to describe
anything that arouses feelings of that nature in IITians ( which includes
a large category of things, IITians being as starved of female
companionship as they are ).

Hazaar/Hajaar: It's literal meaning being 1000 ( one thousand ),
this word is used to denote " a lot of " something. e.g. hazaar crowded,
or hazaar tough.

HOD: The Head of Department, who is the Big Boss for students
after their first year.

hog:To hog is to eat with gusto..which is what IITians do
whenever people return from home after a vacation bearing sweets and
sundry other edibles as tribute for the rest of the hostel inmates, especially their
wingmates though, because they would make life hell for them otherwise.

hug: Hugging is the act of performing badly at something, making
a stupid mistake or fouling up in general. The origins of this word,
well.. they lie in one of the necessary acts which all people do in the
morning..and which involves the expulsion of certain toxins from the
body..I frankly don't know how the word came to mean what it does
now..someone who hugs consistently is known as a huggoo.

junta: "Junta" means "The Common People" in Hindi. In IIT, any
notice or act directed at everyone in general begins with the word
"Junta" written on the notice or shouted out loud to attract everyone's
attention.

keeda: Playing tricks on people and/or disrupting something is
called doing keeda or "keedagiri". The word means "insect" in Hindi and
probably started being used in it's present context by the irritation
caused by some of those pesky arthropods. This word symbolizes, better
than anything else the image of H-9 in IITB.

KLPD: This acronym (the expansion of which cannot be written
here without offending the delicate sensibilities of certain readers) is
used to denote frustration, especially after one's expectations have been
heightened.

kuchh bhi kyaa: This phrase ( in Bombay Hindi,
typically ungrammatical ) indicates a disbelief in what the person with
whom one is talking is saying. It is also used to protest against an
unreasonable request/demand made by someone.

Kusha:It's a relatively new chinese restaurant opposite
YP (explained later ). It wasn't there in my time, so that's all I
have to say about it.

lech: An activity at which all IITians excel, leching means
exactly what the dictionary defines it to be, which is the act of leering
at any good-looking female who passes by.

LT: The Lecture Theatre, of which most IITians have fond
memories, as being the location of the Freshies' Social, and also the
place where a refreshing nap could be taken during the CS101 class.

lukkha: Another term for a Dnot, ie. a person who is a total
slacker

MB: The Main Building, where the Institute's administrative and
financial offices are housed, and where the omnipotent Director and
Deans have their lairs.

Main-gate: Entrance to the ever-beautiful Powai and Vihar lakes
of Bombay and the hill surrounding them. By bus, 45 min. from Andheri and
20 min. from Vikroli.

mug: To mug is to study/cram ..usually this activity is
undertaken the night before the exam, but some people mug during other (
unseasonal ) times too..such characters are known as muggoos. However,
muggoos who hug in exams are known as huggoo-muggoos.

nabard/nbd: This word's origins lie in "nervous breakdown". To
take nbd over something is to get all worked up and worried about it.
"Nabdus" are people who are always in this state. Such people are
compulsive worriers. They need not be academic nabdus at all. In fact,
there have been several people who are not in the least concerned about
their grades , but go into spasms of worry before an inter-hostel sports
or cultural event. So we can conclude that nabard is just a state of
mind.

night out: As the name implies, a night-out is the act of
staying awake the whole night, sometimes due to a cack session, sometimes
due to a combination of cack and intoxicants, and sometimes due to exam
nbds..

obscene: A word used to express a large amount/intensity of
anything, e.g. An obscene dinner, an obscenely good grade etc. As the
previous examples show, the adjective can be applied to positive things
too.

ok types: Anything that is good or went off well. Basically
this word can be used almost any place where a positive feeling/result is
involved.

Panchii: A generic term used to refer to any general person

peace: A gesture of relief and happiness. When an
IITian clears a course in which one had CTs, or when one cracks a
schol,then he says, "PEACE", or "Peace ho gayaa". "Peace Life" can also
be used in this context. It's close cousin "peaceful" is used to denote
something easy, e.g. a peaceful exam, a peaceful prof ( one who doesn't harass
his students ).

pondy: An "educational" movie, in which all the facts of life
are laid bare.

pseud: A derogatory term for anybody or anything that's very
heavily westernised or has pretensions to be very sophisticated.

Punter: Another variant of "Panchii"

ragging: The time-honoured tradition of initiating a freshie into
the IITian way of life. The process primarily involves a month or so in
which the freshies are interrogated by their seniors in different ways,
made to perform certain tasks ( some of which are a bit on the unpleasant side
) and in general given a hard time, all with the noble intention of
getting to know them better ( and to have a little fun in the process ).
However, this glorious tradition of our alma mater has been under constant
attack by the powers-that-be, and has been reduced to a pale shadow of
it's former self. The knock on the door at night, the anti-ragging squad
barging into one's room, and the third degree of the DAC ( Disciplinary
Action Committee ) have become sad, but unfortunately true facts of life
at IITB.

rg/rg-giri:Derived from the word "Relative Grading" (
supposedly ), this term defines the act of doing something for one's
benefit at the expense of someone else. A good example is submitting an
assignment/homework to the Professor before everyone else, and that too
without informing them.

saax :saax, as the very sound of it suggests, is a positive
exaggeration (!) and of anything that needs to be exaggerated,
in the existing context of things. You can have a saax babe or
saax course or even saax grub

Schol: What almost every IITian used to live for, and something
which is still in heavy demand, a schol is essentially a composite offer
of Admission and Financial Aid from a US University. For many IITians, it
is the culmination of their stay in IIT.

scope/scope kyaa: A word/phrase used to characterize something
as being impossible or beyond the capacities of the person talking about
doing it. A very commonly used word in IIT.

shady: Something or someone which/who is not as it/he should
be. e.g. A shady prof, or a shady ( avoidable ) person. It's meaning
varies a bit with regard to the context in which it is used.

sidey: A word which can mean "fart" or "shady" ( another one of
those flexible context-dependent words ).

stud: Someone who extremely good at his/her field. Yes, even
females are called studs in IIT.

slog: To work really hard is to slog. Big-time sloggoos
literally solg their b***s off. Thankfully for most IITians, the
perecentage of sloggoos is not too high ( unlike IITM and other pretenders
), just the level required to ensure a steady supply of class notes and
assignments, and not so high that everyone becomes a sloggoo due to nbds.

suck: An inevitable part of the apping process, sucking involves
sending letters/emails to the Professor(s) in the US in whose fields one
is interested in working ( due to those fields being well-funded ) in
which the writer raves about having been interested in say "Metal Matrix
Composites" since the day he was born and that nothing would give him
greater satisfaction than working under him ( the Prof. ). Usually roles
are reversed for Dept. toppers, with the Univs/Depts sucking up to them.

tension: Tension is an inevitable part of life in IIT, with
people "taking tensions" over several things and people ( esp. Profs )
"giving tensions" for several things too. "Tense" is also used to
refer to anything that is challenging or difficult. e.g. "A tense problem".

"types": This is another vestigial word that is added to
sentences for no reason whatsoever. The most famous example is: "OK types".
Lately "types" is often being pronounced as "taaps", a sign of the live
and ever-changing nature of IITB slang.

Y-Point/YP: The gate of IIT closer to Kanjurmarg, YP was a far
more heavily trafficked site than the "Main Gate", where people go only to
collect their monthly cash infusions. YP boasts of the Campus bookstore,
post office, and many other convenience outlets. It is also closer to the
off-campus eateries, where junta is sometimes forced to go, due to the
sheer inedibility of mess grub.

zeneraal: A corruption of "general". ( mostly used in H-9 )

Some more slang:

Regional identifiers:

bong:Someone who is from the state of West Bengal. This word has
become the nickname of countless bongs in
IITB.

ghat: Someone from the state of Maharashtra. It's origins
probably lie in the Western Ghats, those being the mountains(?) on
India's West Coast.

gujju: A person from the State of Gujarat.

gult: People from Andhra Pradesh are called Gults. The origin of
this word is not very clear, but the most popular version is that it
originated from the word "Telugu", which is the language spoken by gults.
"Telugu" when spelt backwords sounds like "Gulutey", which changed to
"Gult" with the passage of time.

maddu/tam: Someone from the state of Tamil Nadu. "Maddu" has
originated from the capital city Madras.

Mallu: A person from the state of Kerala. Origin lies in
Malayalam, the language spoken in the state.

panju: A Punjabi ( someone from dee istate of Pajaab ).

Sporting abbreviations:

baddy: Badminton

basky: Basketball

footer: Football

volley: Volleyball

Here's
another excellent IITian slang page, with many phrases/words that are not
included here.

For the old-timers ( a rather broad term, since it's been some time
since I graduated myself ), here's some old slang that has gone out of
use.. ( Courtesy Bhushan Vaidya, Chem '87 )

Canti: A generic term for the Hostel Canteen..

Commie: Anyone who is opposed to migrating to the US of A, even
after spending 71/2 gruelling(??) semesters in IIT.

ET: The species inhabiting the first bench of classes,
especially in the Computer Science (CS) Department.

Correction from Sanjay Jain (CS,'87):
ET was a single person and not a species. The fact that he always sat
in the first bench in the class had nothing to do with this name, it was
given during a wild dance in H9 during his freshie days.

GKR: Ganne ka ras (sugarcane juice for you pseuds)

Jing-Bang: Context-sensitive, whatever you take it to mean when
you use it.

koi bhi: Used derogatively (and to some measure enviously) to
denote a person not deserving of a crack in acads or with some fundu chick.
Also used to denote a person of little importance generating a lot of
awaaj.

Courtesy: Neville Gai(Bawa, class of 1988)

Mount: A truncated version of "Mountaineering", it used to stand
for the Mountaineering Club and for junta who had enthu for the activity.
Unfortunately, the Club is no longer in existence.